The present invention relates generally to guiding catheters for the placement of devices for interventional therapeutic treatment of defects in the vasculature, and more particularly relates to guiding catheters having supplemental torque transmittal and guidance walls which may be designed to have variable linear flexibility compared to the rotational flexibility and torque-ability, and that are neither readily collapsible nor kinkable in use, for delivering intravascular interventional devices for treatment of defects in the neurovasculature, such as for treatment of aneurysms.
Vascular interventional devices such as vasoocclusive coils and the like may be typically placed within the vasculature by use of a catheter. Vasoocclusive devices may be either placed within a blood vessel to modify the flow of blood through the vessel by diverting or mitigating the flow of blood into a damaged or leaking portion of the vessel, or are placed within an aneurysm or other malformation stemming from the vessel to form an embolus within the aneurysm, or some combination of techniques to repair a neurovascular defect. Vasoocclusive devices used for these procedures can also have a wide variety of configurations, and aneurysms have been treated with external surgically placed clips, detachable vasoocclusive balloons and embolus generating vasoocclusive devices such as one or more vasoocclusive coils. The delivery of such vascular devices has ordinarily been accomplished by a variety of means, including via a catheter in which the device is pushed through an opening at the distal end of the catheter by a pusher to deploy the device. The vascular devices can be produced in such a way that they will pass through the lumen of a catheter in a linear shape and take on a complex shape as originally formed after being deployed into the area to be treated.
The insertion of a guiding catheter or delivery catheter system into a desired arterial site is the first step for modern forms of endovascular treatment, and one of the most important steps for treatment of defects in the neurovasculature. The size of the puncture site in an artery is critical, as is the ability to guide and torque the repair and treatment device to the desired location in the neurovasculature. Ordinarily, prior art guiding catheters have had a circular cross-sectional shape. It would be desirable to provide a guiding catheter or delivery catheter having a cross-sectional shape that will reduce the French size equivalent cross-section to reduce the size of the puncture site, while maintaining the advantages of a larger size catheter for delivery of a plurality of microcatheters to a treatment site. It would also be desirable to provide a guiding catheter or delivery catheter having a cross-sectional shape that can flex more easily and which can be constructed to have variable longitudinal and torque flex profiles. The present invention meets these and other needs.